


Our Lady of Forever

by thecountessolivia



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Churches & Cathedrals, Conversations, M/M, Notre Dame - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecountessolivia/pseuds/thecountessolivia
Summary: Hannibal takes Will to visit Notre-Dame de Paris.





	Our Lady of Forever

**Author's Note:**

> My heart was broken by tonight's news. I escaped into this ficlet.
> 
> Now with minor edits for better flow.

They found a quiet spot, away from the faithful and the gawking tourist throng, near the North wing of the transept.

They paused there. Hannibal watched Will's profile for a moment, upturned and illuminated by the glow from the rose window. His mouth was slightly agape. Hannibal was beset by the strange impression that the light of the cathedral was pouring itself into Will's body.

"You haven't said a word," Hannibal said, to distract himself from the thought.

Will hadn't, not since they reached the plaza and saw the facade. They had been walking all morning, through Tuileres, along the Seine, finally turning onto Pont Neuf to reach the island. This way, Will's first glimpse of the Lady's two towers would be a revelation, just as it had been for Hannibal all those years ago.

Will shook his head now and shrugged. "I'm not a poet. Anything I'd say would sound inane. Trite." He fell silent again, then seemed to relent. "It's overwhelming, that's all."

"She."

"Hm?"

"She, not it. You'll notice she is called Notre-Dame, not l'Église de Notre-Dame. She is the embodiment of the Holy Virgin. You and I are taking sanctuary inside her sacred heart."

The idea must have appealed to him, because Will smiled — not the wry, slightly crooked grin he was fond of giving Hannibal, but a soft, luminous thing that gave him the appearance of a saint meant for carving into the cathedral's stones. It made Hannibal reach for his hand.

They turned into the nave and walked together, shoulder to shoulder, fingers loosely braided. Hannibal listened to their footsteps, soaring up into the vaulted air of centuries.

"She seems eternal," Will said. "It's impossible to imagine how she could not exist."

"Eternal, but not immutable. Her structure and decor evolved over centuries. She's staved off a few pitiful attempts at destruction. The Huguenots and the revolutionaries had their attempts. And a Nazi general saved her from total annihilation."

Nearby, a group of pilgrims knelt and intoned a plaintive hymn. Will paused again, and listened.

"She's stayed resilient," he said quietly, just above the music. "She's endured." 

"Yes. But I wouldn't put it past God's delight to have her more seriously damaged. The roof and interior are largely timber. A stray spark is all it would take."

Will rolled his eyes.

"Your God always sounds to me more like the demiurge."

Hannibal smiled privately. It was not an inaccurate assessment. He glanced at Will and found his expression had sunk into wistfulness. 

"And if he did?" Will asked. "Burn her down I mean."

Hannibal's hand tightened about Will's. The sad impromptu hymn nearby echoed around them.

"You and I — have we not burned down everything between us?"

Will looked at him, startled. 

"We destroyed each other," he said after a moment. "Razed ourselves to the ground."

"Not once."

Will looked up again to the soaring vaults, lips parted. The same thought as before impressed itself on Hannibal: that the light was filling them up, sating them with a strange sort of peace.

"And yet?" Hannibal asked softly.

"And yet we're here."

Hannibal nodded, once and solemnly. "The idea of us cannot be destroyed."

Will squeezed his hand.

"Forever then?"

"Forever, Will. Like the Lady."


End file.
